Auto-stop air pump
An auto-stop air pump has a housing, a blower and an auto-stop device. The housing has an upper chamber, a lower chamber, a main inlet and an outlet. The upper chamber and the lower chamber communicate with each other. The main inlet and the outlet are formed through the housing respectively and communicate with the upper chamber. The blower is mounted in the housing and has a motor connected to a dual-sided impeller. The auto-stop device is mounted in the housing and has a shell, a film, a micro switch and an actuating unit. The film and the micro switch are mounted in the shell. The actuating unit is mounted movably through the shell. Owing to deformation of the film by pressure, the film presses the micro switch to close the micro switch so the air pump can stop working automatically.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air pump, and more particularly to an air pump that can stop automatically when an inflatable article is finished inflating or deflating by the air pump.
2. Description of the Prior Arts
Air pumps are key components of inflatable articles, for instance, air mattresses, inflatable trampolines, inflatable sofas, large-sized inflatable toys or the like. Usually, air pumps are mounted inside the inflatable articles for inflating and deflating inflatable articles and also maintaining the pressure therein, so the inflatable articles are convenient to use and store.
Currently, a conventional air pump has a housing and a blower. The housing has an inlet and an outlet. The blower is mounted inside the housing and has a motor connected to an impeller. In operation, the motor drives the impeller to rotate at a high speed to generate airflow and change pressure inside the housing to achieve the inflating or deflating effect.
However, the conventional air pump still has many problems that need to be solved. Most conventional air pumps do not have auto-stop function so inflating or deflating work must be manually operated. Dependence on manual operation makes the device highly labor-consuming. Some conventional air pumps have auto-stop function, but only during the inflating process. Further, structure of the conventional air pumps with auto-stop function is complex and has many elements. Such structure may raise material costs for production and assembly and lowers productivity. Moreover, the impellers of the conventional air pumps are single-vane impellers so that work efficiency is limited and hard to increase.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides an auto-stop air pump to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe main object of the present invention is to provide an auto-stop air pump that can stop automatically when inflating or deflating work is finished.
An auto-stop air pump comprises a housing, a blower and an auto-stop device. The housing has an upper chamber, a lower chamber, a main inlet, an outlet, an auxiliary inlet and an air valve. The upper chamber and the lower chamber are defined inside the housing respectively and communicate with each other. The main inlet and the outlet are formed through the housing respectively and communicate with the upper chamber. The auxiliary inlet is formed through the housing and communicates with the lower chamber. The air valve is mounted in the housing and is adjacent to the auxiliary inlet. The blower is mounted in the housing and has a motor connected to a dual-sided impeller. The auto-stop device is mounted in the housing and has a shell, a deformable film, a micro switch and an actuating unit. The shell has a bottom panel, an upper chamber and a lower chamber. The upper chamber communicates with the upper chamber of the housing. The lower chamber communicates with the lower chamber of the housing. The film is mounted in the shell. The micro switch is mounted in the lower chamber of the shell. The actuating unit is mounted movably through the bottom panel of the shell. Owing to deformation of the film by pressure, the film presses the micro switch to close the micro switch so the air pump can stop working automatically. Besides, the dual-sided impeller provides large amount of airflow and initiates high air speed so the operation of the air pump is more efficient.
Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
With reference to
The housing 10 has a container 11, a casing 12, an upper chamber 13, a lower chamber 14, a main inlet 15, an outlet 16, an auxiliary inlet 17 and an air valve 18. The casing 12 covers the container 11 and has a bottom board 121, a communicating hole 122 and an aperture 123. The communicating hole 122 and the aperture 123 are formed through the bottom board 121 of the casing 12 respectively. The upper chamber 13 is defined inside the casing 12. The lower chamber 14 is defined in the container 11. The upper chamber 13 and the lower chamber 14 communicate with each other via the communicating hole 122 of the casing 12. The main inlet 15 and the outlet 16 are formed through the casing 12 of the housing 10 respectively and communicate with the upper chamber 13. The main inlet 15 and the outlet 16 may be tubes protruding from the casing 12. The auxiliary inlet 17 is formed through the container 11 and communicates with the lower chamber 14. The auxiliary inlet 17 may comprise multiple slots. With reference to
The blower 20 is mounted in the housing 10 and has a motor 21 and a dual-sided impeller 22. The motor 21 is mounted in the lower chamber 14 of the housing 10 and has a shaft 211. With further reference to
With reference to
The actuating unit 34 is mounted movably through the bottom panel 311 of the shell 31, is two-step controlled and has a sleeve 341, a sliding part 342, a rotating part 343, an abutting part 344, a pressure spring 345 and a pushing part 346. With further reference to
The master switch 35 is mounted on the shell 31 near the block 3441 of the abutting part 344 and is normally closed. With reference to
With reference to
With reference to
With reference to
The air pump also can be stopped by manual operation. The pushing part 346 of the actuating unit 34 is pushed again to drive the sliding part 342, the rotating part 343 and the abutting part 344 to move upward so the pressure spring 345 is compressed. When the pushing part 346 of the actuating unit 34 is released, the pressure spring 345 provides resilient force to push the abutting part 344 to move downward and the ribs 3431 of the rotating part 343 to engage the tracks 3412 of the sleeve 341. The block 3441 of the abutting part 344 departs from the position abutting the master switch 35 so the master switch 35 is switched off and the air pump stops operating.
The inflatable article 40 can be inflated compulsively by pulling the pushing part 346 of the actuating unit 34 all along. The film 32 is supported by the abutting part 344 so the film 32 is kept from being deformed to close the micro switch 33. Therefore, hardness of the inflatable article 40 is increased and is adjustable.
With reference to
With reference to
The air pump in accordance with the present invention can inflate or deflate the inflatable article 40 quickly and features automatic stop function so that the air pump stops automatically when an inflatable article is finished inflating or deflating by the air pump. Additionally, the air pump in accordance with the present invention is composed of fewer elements as compared with the conventional air pump so is simplified and increases production efficiency while reducing costs. Therefore, the air pump in accordance with the present invention is conveniently provided for application.
Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and features of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made in the details, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.
Claims
1. An auto-stop air pump comprising:
- a housing having an upper chamber and a lower chamber communicating with each other via a communicating hole; a main inlet and an outlet formed through the housing respectively and communicating with the upper chamber; an auxiliary inlet formed through the housing and communicating with the lower chamber; and an air valve mounted in the housing adjacent to the auxiliary inlet;
- a blower mounted in the housing and having a motor mounted in the lower chamber of the housing and having a shaft; and a dual-sided impeller mounted in the upper chamber of the housing, mounted securely around the shaft of the motor and having a top side facing and corresponding to the main inlet of the housing; a bottom side facing and corresponding to the communicating hole of the housing; and an annular side facing and corresponding to the outlet of the housing; and
- an auto-stop device mounted in the housing and having a shell having an upper chamber communicating with the upper chamber of the housing; and a lower chamber communicating with the lower chamber of the housing; a deformable film mounted in the shell and separates the upper chamber and the lower chamber of the shell; a micro switch mounted in the lower chamber of the shell and pressed by the film; and an actuating unit mounted movably through the shell and abutting the film.
2. The auto-stop air pump as claimed in claim 1, wherein the dual-sided impeller has
- a panel mounted securely on the shaft of the motor; and
- multiple blades formed perpendicularly on two opposite side surfaces of the panel.
3. The auto-stop air pump as claimed in claim 1, wherein the housing further has an annular channel defined around the dual-sided impeller and communicating with the main inlet and the communicating hole of the housing.
4. The auto-stop air pump as claimed in claim 1, wherein the shell of the auto-stop device further has an orifice, the lower chamber of the shell communicates with the lower chamber of the housing via the orifice.
5. The auto-stop air pump as claimed in claim 1, wherein the housing further has an aperture, the upper chamber of the shell communicates with the upper chamber of the housing via the aperture.
6. The auto-stop air pump as claimed in claim 1, wherein the air valve of the housing has a moving board having an air vent aligning with the auxiliary inlet of the housing.
7. The auto-stop air pump as claimed in claim 6, wherein the air valve of the housing further has
- a pressing part attached to the moving board and having a top end protruding out of the housing adjacent to the main inlet of the housing; and
- a return spring mounted under the pressing part and abuts the pressing part.
8. The auto-stop air pump as claimed in claim 1, wherein the actuating unit is two-step controlled and has
- a sleeve mounted securely under the shell and having an inner surface; multiple ratchets formed around the inner surface of the sleeve; and multiple tracks formed separately between the ratchets of the sleeve;
- a sliding part mounted movably through the sleeve and having a top end; a bottom end protruding out of the sleeve; a top end surface; an outer surface; multiple bosses protruding from and formed separately around the outer surface and the top end of the sliding part and respectively engaging the tracks of the sleeve; and multiple teeth formed around the top end surface of the sliding part;
- a rotating part mounted rotatably through the sleeve and the sliding part and having a top end; an outer surface; and multiple ribs protruding from and formed separately around the outer surface and the top end of the rotating part, respectively engaging the tracks of the sleeve and respectively abutting the bosses of the sliding part;
- an abutting part mounted movably through the sleeve and having a bottom end abutting the rotating part; an upper section protruding through the lower chamber of the shell; and a lower section; and
- a pressure spring mounted around the lower section of the abutting part and mounted in the sleeve and has two ends, one end abutting the abutting part and the other end abutting the shell.
9. The auto-stop air pump as claimed in claim 8, wherein the micro switch is normally opened.
10. The auto-stop air pump as claimed in claim 9, wherein
- the abutting part of the auto-stop device further has a block protruding from the bottom end of the abutting part; and
- the auto-stop device further has a master switch mounted on the shell near the block of the abutting part, being normally closed, and the master switch and the micro switch are connected to each other in series.
11. The auto-stop air pump as claimed in claim 1, wherein the actuating unit is single-step controlled and has
- an abutting part mounted movably through the shell;
- a pressure spring mounted under the shell and having two ends, one end abutting the abutting part and the other end abutting the shell; and
- a pushing part attached to the abutting part and having a side mounted out of the housing.
12. The auto-stop air pump as claimed in claim 11, wherein the micro switch is normally opened.
13. The auto-stop air pump as claimed in claim 12, wherein the auto-stop device further has a master switch mounted on the housing.
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Type: Grant
Filed: Oct 18, 2010
Date of Patent: Jul 9, 2013
Patent Publication Number: 20120093662
Assignee: Dongguan Tiger Point, Metal & Plastic Products Co., Ltd. (Dongguan)
Inventor: Chun-Chung Tsai (Dongguan)
Primary Examiner: Devon Kramer
Assistant Examiner: Bryan Lettman
Application Number: 12/906,346
International Classification: F04B 49/08 (20060101); F04B 39/14 (20060101);